He entered government service in 1951 and resigned in 1960 to join post graduate classes.
[9] In the 1972 Assam Legislative Assembly election, Baruah sought the newly established constituency of Charaibahi as an independent candidate.
He instead sought in the 1978 Assam Legislative Assembly Election the Jorhat seat as a Janata Party candidate.
He joined BJP in 1999 at the behest of Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee after being promised a ticket but was later denied this due to him being a newcomer in 2004.
Suffering from cancer, he died on 4 October 2008 in a private hospital in Mumbai and was survived by his daughter and two sons.